Four get prison in massive surgery-fraud case

From left to right, Rosalinda Landon, 66, Andrew Harnen, 58, and Dee Francis, 63, sit handcuffed in Superior Court in Santa Ana in November following guilty verdicts against them. They were three of four defendants in a tax evasion case in what prosecutors are calling the largest medical-fraud case in the nation stemming from Unity Surgical Outpatient Center in Buena Park.PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – Four office workers at a Buena Park surgical outpatient center were sentenced Thursday to prison terms on tax-evasion convictions and ordered to pay millions in restitution in a case that prosecutors say is connected to the largest medical-fraud operation in the nation.

"This was a classic case of good, old, all-American greed," Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals told the four, who were personnel connected to Unity Surgical Outpatient Center, where healthy people from all over the United States were recruited for unneeded surgeries, including tummy tucks and hysterectomies, generating $154 million in billings to insurance companies.

"It is just incredible to me that you folks ... decided you weren't going to pay taxes," Goethals continued. "To say there were no victims here is ridiculous. The community was victimized by this plot."

The four defendants, including a lawyer, an accountant and two medical administrators, still face trial next year on 100 felony fraud charges related to the Unity scandal.

But Goethals told them he would add no additional time to their sentences if they plead guilty to the fraud counts on Jan. 3. The judge said he felt the tax convictions and the fraud charges were all part of the same "ugly, expensive ... felonious scenario."

Unity administrator Dee Francis, 63, was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday. Fellow administrator Rosalinda Landon, 66, received five years and four months, as did accountant Andrew Harnen, 58. Unity lawyer Roy Dickson, 64, was sentenced to two years and eight months. All were ordered pay restitution, ranging from $41,000 to $1.1 million.

The four were tried and convicted in Goethals court in November after a 10-week trial on charges either of filing false tax returns or failing to file taxes or both. Dickson, of Yorba Linda, was found guilty on two felony counts, Landon on six, Francis of seven, and Harnen on nine.

They were indicted in 2008 by the Orange County grand jury after it examined more than 1,000 documents and heard testimony from 56 witnesses over 28 days.

Six other people involved in the Unity scandal who pleaded guilty before the indictment were sentenced to terms ranging from probation to, in the case of one doctor, 16 years in prison, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

The mastermind and "driving force" behind what Goethals called "a massive fraud" was Unity official Tam Vu Pham, 48, Goethals noted during Thursday's sentencing. But the four people sentenced Thursday were high-level assistants and major players in the plot, the judge said.

"This was about the money," Goethals added. "A lot of people (at Unity) were making a lot of money."

Pham, 48, pleaded guilty in 2005 to several felony counts, including conspiracy and money laundering and insurance fraud, according to prosecutors. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution.

Orange County prosecutors William Overtoom and George McFetridge have said that Unity doctors performed 1,307 invasive procedures on patients, including some who were recruited and paid between $300 and $1,000 to undergo unnecessary colonoscopies, hysterectomies, the removal of cysts, and treatment of sweaty palms and hemorrhoids.

The prosecutors have said that Unity billed insurance companies $154 million in a scheme in which 2,841 healthy people from all over the country were recruited for the unneeded surgeries.

Authorities at the time of the indictment called it the largest medical fraud case in the nation, and media coverage has been nationwide.

From left to right, Rosalinda Landon, 66, Andrew Harnen, 58, and Dee Francis, 63, sit handcuffed in Superior Court in Santa Ana in November following guilty verdicts against them. They were three of four defendants in a tax evasion case in what prosecutors are calling the largest medical-fraud case in the nation stemming from Unity Surgical Outpatient Center in Buena Park. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Roy Dickson, 64, waits for court to start in Santa Ana in November. Dickson was one of four defendants in a tax-evasion case in what prosecutors are calling the largest medical-fraud case in the nation. Dickson was the attorney for Unity Surgical Outpatient Center in Buena Park. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Rosalinda Landon, left, and Dee Francis, right, wait for verdicts to be read in Superior Court in Santa Ana. They were two of four defendants in a tax-evasion case in what prosecutors are calling the largest medical-fraud case in the nation. Both were administrators at Unity Surgical Outpatient Center in Buena Park. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Roy Dickson, 64, second from left, listens to the judge's instructions to the jury during the reading of the verdict in Superior Court in Santa Ana. Dickson was the attorney for Unity Surgical Outpatient Center in Buena Park. Dickson sat at the defense table because he is representing himself in the case. The other defense attorneys are Sonja Muir, left, Maltaise Cini, in red, and Roger Sheaks, right. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Deputy District Attorney George McFetridge listens to the judges instructions to the jury in Superior Court in Santa Ana on Monday. McFetridge was prosecuting a tax-evasion case against employees at Unity Surgical Outpatient Center in Buena Park. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Andrew Harnen booking photo COURTESY OF ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Dee Francis booking photo. COURTESY OF ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Rosalina Landon booking photo COURTESY OF ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Roy Dickson booking photo COURTESY OF ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

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